Chase Equestrian at Chase Meadow Lane

10/04/2024

Our show is fast approaching! Come join us for a fun day of riding and cider-sipping as we kick off the fall season.

Pre-registration closes in one week!

https://forms.gle/1URknWKn7zbe7g1a9

10/04/2024

Very proud of this CML alumni, Lauren Handley! Support her Horse Show this weekend

🌟 Shoutout to Lauren at GB's Stable! 🌟

We can't say enough about the incredible work Lauren is doing at the barn.

As the point of contact for all our vets, she's built an amazing relationship with Thompson and Associates Equine Medicine, ensuring top-notch care for our horses. We are proud that they are a trusted partner, thanks to her careful management!

Not only does Lauren excel in managing these relationships, but she's also a powerhouse in every aspect of stable management. She dedicates a third of her riding time to her personal development, which is a perfect example of the balance she brings to everything. By the end of 2025, she plans to dive deeper into her own continuing education, and implement a robust calendar of social events to bring our community closer together.

Her ability to diagnose equine issues has saved countless boarders time, stress, and money, especially with the reduced incidence of colic from improved diets. Her staff is equally amazing—punctual, knowledgeable, and loved by everyone at the barn. No drama, just unity and support all around, thanks to her leadership.

Lauren's strengths shine through every day—her balance, professionalism, and presence create a calm and thriving environment. Her growing lesson program is a testament to her dedication, and she’s always focused on helping clients grow alongside their horses. We’re so lucky to have her on the team! 💪🐴 WE LOVE YOU LAUREN!

09/28/2024

World Cup rider Melanie Smith Taylor is one of only two riders to ever win the “Triple Crown of Show Jumping.” She is the only rider to win the American Invitational, the International Jumping Derby and the American Gold Cup on the same horse, Calypso who is shown with her in the photo.

09/26/2024

The great Mark Todd at Badminton in 1986. And yes, you had to jump that big vertical at the bottom of the slide!

09/24/2024

All I Want To Do Is Jump

I ran a fairly large lesson program for almost 20 years. This is a statement I have heard over and over, both in my lesson barn days and from colleagues today.

All I want to do is jump.

There are a few problems with this. Let's start with the horse. I love the old horseman's saying " horses only have so many jumps in them ". Is that 100, 1000 before it becomes lame.... No one knows....but horses certainly weigh a lot and the concussion landing on those small little legs is significant. Horses also get bored, burned out....and let's face it...sour.
Respect for the horse . The riders job is to do the best thing for the horse. Most horses only need jumped a few days a week. That means if a lesson horse works 5 days a week, only 2 of those are jumping days. 3 of those are purely flatwork or hacking.

Riders : most of jumping well has NOTHING to do with jumping. Riders need to work on pace, transitions, straightness, their position, effectiveness of aids, balance, ability to change positions smoothly ( from 2 point to sitting etc ) and so much more.

So if you are one of those students who Just Wants To Jump , please replace that with "I want to be an effective rider and horseman or woman . I want to do what is best for the horse "

And instructors who cave to this plea from students
Only YOU can set the CULTURE of your barn. Talk frequently about horsemanship and doing right by the animals.

09/18/2024

09/15/2024

The show is fast approaching! Contact Lauren to register! 🎉🐴

09/07/2024

Ok, this is happening at another farm...

09/06/2024

Always 🖤🐴

08/23/2024

George H. Morris on Triplicate

08/14/2024

Get Tickets for ATL Women's Polo Series.

08/12/2024

What constitutes a circle? It’s probably the most mis understood, over done and poorly executed exercise in the mainstream horse world

A poorly done circle is a wet noodle flopping around, a disconnected body with a nose pointed onto a figure, while the hind legs flail around and the rib cage collapses.
A poorly done circle is a plywood board that someone is attempting to pound softness into, by pulling pieces and parts around

A well done circle is a masterpiece, a thing of beauty
A well connected body, straight on a curve

But the horse has to know how to turn with the shoulders, and to keep the hind legs behind them
A horse has to learn how to keep their neck center
A horse has to know how to expand the rib cage to the outside
A horse has to know how to stretch the outside of the body

That’s no small feat, and it’s quite the athletic endeavor, not to be taken lightly, and nothing to flop around on mindlessly

A circle deserves our respect, awareness, and time put in to develop it well

08/06/2024

04/18/2023

The 2023 ASHBA Half Saddlebred Futurity will offer an Open Weanling Futurity for all 2023 Half-Saddlebred foals that are registered with ASHBA’s Half Saddlebred Registry! All that is required is to register your Half Saddlebred and nominate by May 1, 2023.
Learn more: https://asha.net/newsItem?id=57920

Osteen Photo: Hallelujah Thunder, 2022 Half Saddlebred Futurity Winner

04/18/2023

03/06/2023

Equitation and Hunter Riders please check in for our show at The Ridge At Wellington Groves this Tuesday! USHJA Hunters & Child/Adult Hunters at 11, Taylor Harris & Ariat not before noon, all 3'3" Equitation not before 1:00, and Medal,Maclay,Talent Search not before 2:00. Ship ins Welcome, Day or weekly Stalls available.
Prizelist at www.ridgeshowjumping.com

03/06/2023

Penelope Rides Again - republished Oct 22 https://www.quillerpublishing.com/product/penelope-rides-again

Published by Horse and Rider Books in North America
https://www.horseandriderbooks.com/norman-thelwell/

03/02/2023

03/02/2023

Thelwell did Harness Racing?

Reintroduction of chariot racing into the Olympic Games 1956 (from Punch)

08/29/2022

The Ridge at Tewksbury is a full service hunter/jumper farm providing training for both horse and ri

08/26/2022

Intensity is a normal state for many humans. They talk about “Type A Personalities” all the time. Athletes are pushed hard to be more, more, more. More driven, more competitive, more successful.

Meanwhile, the horse, a grazing animal, has about a zero work ethic. The horse doesn’t prance around the pasture to “get fit.” If he does run around, the nano-second he gets sick of it, he stops.

So now we have this paradox, a driven animal (humans) wanting performance from a grazing animal (horses).

And so we drive them crazy, some of the time, by bringing human drives and needs to a species with absolutely different kinds of drives and needs. We read things like, “My horse has a great work ethic.” What that actually means is that the horse tolerates being pushed. He doesn’t push himself.

Driven humans project their needs onto all sorts of things, golf clubs, footballs, boats, skis, motorcycles, cars, planes, and, yes onto horses.

But those other recipients of those sometimes frantically desperate human needs, being inanimate, are immune to the forces that can create counter intensity. Not so the horse.

To be better riders, better trainers, better horsemen and horsewomen, maybe tone it down a notch. Or ten notches---

Too many humans make the horse anxious, then punish the horse for the anxiety which they humans created in the first place. There are lots of riders who ought to have a motorcycle instead of a horse.

08/25/2022